1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to label holders and relates more particularly to label holders adapted to be mounted on a supporting surface formed of wire, such as a wire basket, a wire rack, a wire shelf, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumer-oriented product information labels are commonly found in supermarkets, drug stores, and other such stores and provide purchasers with the unit price, promotional and nutritional information, and the like and, also, commonly include bar codes or other inventory control information for the use of the store personnel. Such information may be carried on paper or plastic labels secured directly to the side of a shelf unit or the front edge of a merchandise shelf, but the use of adhesively-backed labels has obvious disadvantages in the constantly changing commercial environment found in today's marketplace. Oftentimes, the front edge of the merchandise shelf is provided with an integral C-channel or the like that can either carry the labels directly or, alternatively, carry plastic holders which are adapted to removably receive and display the labels in a well known manner. Label holders adapted for use in various environments will be seen in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,625,441, 4,716,669, 5,458,307, 5,488,793, 5,515,632, 5,678,699, 5,682,698, 5,899,011 and 6,163,996, the subject matters of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference (“the label holder patents”). These patents are cited merely as exemplary to illustrate the many and varied forms such devices can take.
Combination label/sign holder have been developed wherein labels can be selectively inserted and removed from the label holder pocket without removing any of the sign holders associated with related products on a merchandising shelf. Such a construction is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,112 (the '112 patent), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The sign holder portion of the combination label/sign holder of the '112 patent is carried by, and moves with, the cover member of the label holder, avoiding interfering with access to the label holder pocket. This is accomplished by providing the front surface of the cover member of the label holder with a pair of sign holder-receiving lip members which can snappingly receive edge portions of a resilient plastic or metal sign holder such as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,632 (the '632 patent) or U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,793 (the '793 patent), or the engaging portions of a depending sign holder of the type seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,682,698 and 6,163,996 (the '698 and '996 patents, respectively), the subject matters of all of which are incorporated herein by reference, or other such commercially available sign holders.
More recently, in place of, or in addition to, such paper or plastic information containing labels, electronic information carriers have been employed. Electronic shelf labels (ESLs) are generally integrated with the in-store processor (ISP) or a free-standing controller that communicates with file information supporting the store's point-of-sale system. The ESL system may include low-voltage communication electronics or communication base stations (CBS) located in store ceilings away from the store operations. The ESLs are positioned throughout the store to identify an item's retail price and other information of interest to the consumer or for use by the store's inventory system.
Price changes may be initiated through the store's controller which updates item price files. This information, which has an association to a particular product identified by item number or UPC code, is communicated to the CBS in the ceiling and transmitted via a high frequency radio signal to the corresponding ESL.
The ESLs are programmed with differing addresses that are also associated with the item number or UPC code of the product they represent. Once the addressed device is found, the label display changes and reflects an acknowledgment back to the CBS to confirm that the transmission was received and enacted. This acknowledgment is then communicated back to the ISP to complete the transaction.
These systems, such as produced by NCR under its DecisioNet™ trademark, allow the ESLs to be independent of wires and cables below the ceiling, which reduces installation time and cost. Since there are no wires or cables required from the ceiling down, the label is free to be positioned anywhere. When store shelf resets occur, ESLs move easily with the shelves.
These ESL units, however, much like paper labels, require a carrier device to facilitate supporting them at selected locations. One such carrier is described in commonly-assigned pending patent application Ser. No. 10/448,049 entitled “Label Holder for Electronic Labeling Devices”, incorporated by reference herein.
When price channels are used as above for labeling merchandise on a shelf, no significant problems arise for shelves which are at a convenient viewing height for a customer. For shelves near floor level, and shelves above eye level, however, customers have trouble in reading price channel labels because the labels extend generally vertically in use.
For the most part, such label holders, whether they be designed for paper labels, plastic labels, a combination of labels and signs or flags, or even ESLs, have been designed for attachment to a C-channel or, perhaps, a merchandise display shelf devoid of a C-channel, or even the flat side of a shelf unit or the like. Specialized problems exist when the label holder is to be attached to a wire rod-type structure such as found in a wire basket, a wire rack, a wire shelf, or another merchandise display supporting surface formed of wire rod material or the like. One form of label holder adapted for use with such structures is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,660 (the '660 patent), the subject matter of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The label holder of the '660 patent is somewhat complicated to use and can only be secured over the top wire of a rod-type structure. Tabs which loop around generally horizontally extending wire rods forming part of a wire basket, wire rack, wire shelf or the like, are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,761,904 and 4,869,007 (the '904 and '007 patents, respectively), the subject matters of which are also incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. The designs of the '904 and '007 patents are somewhat fragile, relying on relatively thin portions of the label holder for support. Moreover, such label holders themselves can move or swing relative to the wire rod support making it difficult to read a bar code or the like and impossible to adjust the viewing angle of the labels carried thereby in the event the supporting rod is relatively high or relatively low relative to the eye of a passerby.